


(Not So) Lonely At The Top

by foldingcranes



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: All New All Different Avengers - Freeform, Gen, Minor Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Not Civil War II Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:39:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11290911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foldingcranes/pseuds/foldingcranes
Summary: Riri has a bad day, and Tony tries to be An Emotionally Available Adult for her. It doesn't go so bad.





	(Not So) Lonely At The Top

**Author's Note:**

> This fic works if we pretend:  
> \- CW II never happened.  
> \- Real Tony got to know and work with Riri.  
> \- ANAD Avengers are still a Thing (give them back to me.)
> 
> Many thanks to the lovely @buckytheducky at the Bringing Food to the Lab discord for beta reading this!

Tony knows something’s up the moment Riri arrives stomping into the workshop. Her lips are pursed in an unhappy line, and she gracelessly drops her backpack on the floor before slumping on the workshop’s ratty old couch. She says nothing when Tony raises his eyebrows at her. The silent treatment gets old after a couple of minutes and Tony sighs, opening one of his cabinets so he can get a chocolate bar and taking a seat right next to Riri. He offers a couple of squares to her and she accepts them readily, angrily munching on them.

“Bad day?” He asks.

“Terrible.”

He knows her routine by now: school, lunch at home with her mom, then workshop, so he tries to guess. “Fight with your mom?”

“No,” she sighs, and eats more chocolate. She looks a little sadder now, anger leaving her body by bits. “I– look, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

Riri’s face reddens and Tony drags a hand down his face. Jesus, he’s too old for this. “Listen, I’m probably the worst adult in your life right now–”

Riri snorts, and Tony tries not to be offended. (He isn’t.)

“Yeah, laugh all you want. Every time you face a hard choice you should think, ‘hey, what would Tony do?’ and do the exact opposite. You’re better off following your mom’s example, she’s really cool.” Tony tries to cheer her up, and feels pleased when that gets her to smile. It’s nicely warm inside the workshop, because winter season is quickly approaching and Tony’s trying to be mindful of the kids. Or Kamala, mostly. She always complains about how cold the workshop is, so Tony does his best to keep the place warm and comfy instead of wearing a thousand ratty sweaters. “Anyway, there are things I’m not… that maybe I shouldn’t try to advise you about. Like, things about being a girl and struggling against racism and prejudice. I’m white, I’m male, I’m rich. I’ve had it easier than you in a lot of ways, kiddo. You know that, you’ve been dealing with my spoiled ass for a while now.”

She rolls her eyes at him, smiling. “Damn right you are.”

Tony chuckles, and gives her more chocolate. “Yeah, but. What I’m trying to say here is… well, that I’m willing to listen. If you got a problem and you just need a listening ear… I’m here. You know that, right?”

Riri hesitates, for a minute. They haven’t been working together for too long, but she fits neatly with the Avengers– except that, sometimes, she seems a little bit closed off and hard to reach. It’s like she’s not as easygoing as she would like to be, and it shows when she interacts with the rest of the kids in the team.

His chest feels warm when she nods. God, this mentoring thing will be the death of him.

“College is… frustrating.” She starts to speak after a little while, staring at the chocolate bar in her hands. Tony wonders if they’ll need cookies. “I always feel like everything is… slow, and I’ll go fast and then hit a wall. I had this project with a girl I really, really liked– and I thought we were getting closer, see, after working on it for months. I thought we were friends. I thought I could ask her– ask her out. On a date.”

 _Oh no_. “And?”

“She said no. She said that I was too smart and that I made her feel dumb, that I was too cocky. Arrogant.” Her eyes get a little misty and Tony leaves the couch to get some _kleenex_ from another cabinet. She glares at him. “I’m not going to cry, Tony!”

“Why not?” Tony shrugs. “Everyone needs a good cry. I cry all the time.”

“That’s because you’re a baby,” she accepts the box of tissues and blinks a couple of times, eyes still sad. Tony sighs.

“You’re brilliant but being brilliant can be a little bit lonely.” He tries to sound nonchalant about it, but it’s really hard to lie to Riri. She never believes any of his bullshit, that’s one of the reasons he enjoys spending time with her. And there are moments, like this one, where he sees her and sees the lonely kid he used to be and has to tell himself to stop projecting on teenagers.

She scrunches her nose at him, faking disgust. “That’s why you’re turning into a spinster, Tony? Thinking of getting some cats to set a spinster-y mood?”

_Don’t think of Steve. Don’t think of missing Steve. Don’t think of Steve coming back._

_Lock it down, Tony._

(He hates his brain, sometimes. Most times.)

“I should get a couple of cats. Bet Sam would love it,” Tony crosses his arms and coughs a little, trying to get back to the point. “Don’t try to make this about me, you sneaky little gremlin.”

Her entire form looks defeated now, and Tony pats her shoulder. “I know I told you I would be shi– that I would suck at advising you. But, see, there’s something I can talk to you about plenty and that’s being the smartest kid in the room.”

Riri reaches for a tissue again, and Tony pretends not to see. Lets her get it out.

 _Just let it out, let out everything_ , he thinks. _Please, never be like me_.

“Being the smartest kid in the room means that while everyone struggles, you’ll get bored. It means being lonely, because people think you’re always bragging about how bright you are. Every little brilliant thing you do is seen as showing off.

And sometimes they beat you up– you shouldn’t let that happen, _never_ – but sometimes, kids are smarter than that and they bruise you with words. Words don’t leave visible scars, and they can hit a lot harder.”

He didn’t mean to give her a ‘it gets lonely at the top’ speech, but he doesn’t want to lie about it. Riri’s too smart for that, and she doesn’t deserve it, anyway. “And people– will try to take advantage of your genius and you’ll have doubts. You’ll wonder if people really like you or just want you to do their chemistry homework. But.”

Tony smiles at her, genuine and honest. “Keep your eyes open and don’t lose faith in people, because they can always surprise you. And you need that, because one of the worst things of being brilliant is losing bits of your sense of wonder.”

He thinks of ice, melting off so many years ago. Thinks of the best day of his life. Thinks of the kiddie Avengers. (And _Steve_.)

So many good things.

“Build things, Riri, and be proud of every good thing you build, because you did it and you’re brilliant, and you deserve to feel good about it. And you’ll get better at building relationships with people, eventually. Just… stick to the right ones, you know. The ones that appreciate your awesome brain.”

He gets up, and goes back to the workbench. Pretends to look at blueprints.

They’re silent– but it’s a good kind of silence. A comfortable one. Then– then Riri laughs.

“I promise I won’t let anyone know you’re this much of a sap.”

Tony ends up laughing with her, embarrassed.

“Yeah, let’s keep it a secret.”

They work until Sam, Miles and Kamala arrive with endless questions about math and physics and they all end up eating takeout in the workshop later.

It’s a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic also has a [tumblr post](http://countingcranes.tumblr.com/post/162206695222/not-so-lonely-at-the-top).


End file.
